Ajeet Rai started really well in his first round match in Sydney against Philip Sekulic, acing the Australian twice in the first three points as he went on to hold to love, but unfortunately the rest of the set didn’t live up to that early promise. Sekulic started his first game with a double fault and finished with an ace before Rai broke himself with unforced errors. He did hit a beautiful cross-court forehand volley in the middle of the game, and the last error was forced rather than his own fault, but it was a disappointing follow-up to the first game.
Sekulic had another comfortable hold before Rai repeated the points from the third game – one lovely winner, this time a beautiful forehand down the left sideline, but no other points won. At least this time there was only one unforced error, with Sekulic completing the game by hitting a fabulous forehand return down the line. Sekulic then had his own moment of disbelief when he started the next game with two unforced errors and finished it with two double faults. He then broke Rai again, this time to love, finishing the game with a fabulous inside-out forehand winner before serving out the set to love after 24 minutes.
Rai started the second set almost as well as he had the first, finishing with two aces, and Sekulic won the second game with a beautiful backhand volley to win a great rally. Rai started the next game with a lovely angled backhand volley, but what was an absolutely vital point went against him when the line judge called a fault on a serve that clearly hit the centre line. That ace would have given him the game but, instead, it would go to Sekulic after a deuce when the Australian hit a fabulous angled backhand winner off a drop shot.
Sekulic had to save a break point in the next game after he hit a forehand into the tramlines, and he did so with a beautiful forehand drop volley. He had to save another break point after a smash from Rai ended another good rally, but things took a turn for the worse for Sekulic when he stopped playing after getting the advantage after the second deuce. Although it was out of sight of the camera, I’m pretty sure from what happened afterwards that Sekulic was sick on the court. Umpire Meruyert Kaukeyeva, who is a long way from her home in Kazakhstan, was quickly down from her chair to offer assistance and get some help, and it was five minutes before play resumed. Sekulic forced Rai into an error to win the point he needed to hold serve, but then hit a forehand into the net to end a fabulous 20 shot rally when Rai served.
Two unforced errors from Rai took him to the first of four deuces, but the only break point was a double fault after the third one, which he saved with an ace. The game was seven minutes and 14 seconds long, which was close enough to identical to the previous game – if you took out the five minute delay. Sekulic then saved a break point with an ace, and won the game when Rai hit two more unforced errors. Rai started and finished the next game by forcing Sekulic to hit forehand returns into the net as he held to love, but the shot of the match was his incredible forehand drop shot which I was sure was going to die into the net, but somehow crept over to give Rai the point.
There was another good rally to start the next game, but Rai got impatient and ended it after 18 shots with a backhand into the net. The ace that he had been robbed of earlier was now given to Sekulic, because the last serve of the game clearly landed on the wrong side of the centre line. Rai finished the next game with an ace out wide, but the break in his favour meant that Sekulic would now be serving for the match.
The game didn’t have an auspicious start when he broke a shoelace on the first point. Rai doubled his advantage with a beautiful forehand lob, and Sekulic gave away break points when he ended another good rally with a backhand over the baseline. That rally lasted for 13 shots, but the one which followed was better, and longer, Rai’s backhand on the 16th shot hitting the net cord and bouncing back. That was the only point which Sekulic won, though, as he hit a forehand into the net to give back the break.
Rai held safely before they each hit a beautiful cross-court volley to start the next game. Rai was then forced into three errors to allow Sekulic to hold, and that took them to a tie-break. Errors from Sekulic gave Rai the first two points, but that was as far as he would get. Of the seven remaining points, Rai would lose six of them with unforced errors. The worst in terms of momentum was his forehand volley over the baseline to lose the best rally of the match after 23 shots, and he finished with two backhands going wide, one on each side of the court. The final score was 7-2, 7-6 (2), and the match took an hour and 32 minutes.